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Big difference - assuming the piano playing was decent, you have created a beautiful piece of artwork.

Assuming the football playing was good, the other guys are in pain and you've suckered a bunch of fat, testosterone-laden slobs sitting in the bleachers out of a whole ton of money. If you're lucky, you won't fall apart before you hit 35.

Of course, this is all just my own opinion. It needn't apply to everyone, I suppose...

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Seems to me you posted that comment specifically to get a rise out of someone, so that you could flame them.

'Flamebait', indeed.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Don't worry about it. At least you've mastered the art of the shift key.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Funny, consensus so far is that there isn't even a problem.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

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Just what strategic advantage do you really think that apple gains by keeping 'control' of OpenPlay?
---

Not much, probably. But the whole of Darwin has some value to Apple. Would you suggest they use conflicting licenses?

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If corporations aren't really interested in sharing then they should drop the pretense.
---

You are limiting yourself if you think that 'sharing' requires a GPL licensed codebase. While I have no problem with the GPL itself (nobody HAS to use it, it has been used with good software, etc), I DO have a problem with the assumption that anything not put under the GPL is 'evil'. I have yet to see a convincing argument that proprietary software is somehow morally inferior to GPL'd software. Apple has no more draconian rules attached to their license than does the GPL.

In the end, though, you don't have to use the APSL. And they don't have to use the GPL. What's the big problem?

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We realize that some of that development is still greed driven.
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Not all development is greed driven. That's a myth, although Microsoft would seem to support your theory.

Much of it is actually "Food" or "Shelter" driven. Just like any other job. I'm sorry, but not everyone can make money off of support, customization, or speaking tours.

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Whereas 'kinda free' licences create a muddled, confused mess.
---

I've seen a lot of confusion over the GPL - more than any other, really (you don't see it yourself, as you're probably pretty familiar with it already). As for 'kinda free', if the GPL were truly free there wouldn't be nearly as many stipulations attached to it.


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Really?

Hrm. I must have had it all wrong, then...

:>

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

That's funny, Microsoft does that all the time.

(Apple isn't immune either - anyone remember early versions of OT, ie. 'Broken Transport'?)


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

It also encourages good security.

Plus, this was a 'legit', solicited crack. What's wrong with that?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Coward -

Perhaps you should learn the history of which you speak?

The Xerox GUI research was indeed useful, and made a major impact on Apple. However:

1. Xerox was paid for the 'walkthrough', in the form of stock in Apple (assuming they've held on to it, they should be pretty happy right about now). When will Microsoft start sending their checks out to Apple?

2. Xerox rarely gets anything out the door, and if they do, it usually flops (not due to inferior technology, but for marketing reasons).

3. The previous poster said '...Sure they both saw what was at xerox parc, but Jobs was the man to bring it to the table.'. Reread that. Get a drink. Reread it again. Think about it for a minute or two. He's not saying Apple invented the entire concept of a graphical user interface, he said that Jobs (and Apple) brought it 'to the table'. They took the risk, and it more or less paid off.

Instead of polishing your insult/flaming technique, perhaps you can pay more attention the what a person says before replying?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

1. Compiling for both platforms on the BeOS is actually pretty easy.

2. The Mac hardware platform is much less of a moving target than the wild world of Wintel. Remember the lack of driver problem? That was never much of an issue on the PPC side of things.

3. Apple is very big in the graphics and multimedia markets. Be is aiming for a similar market. Meaning, Macs are very common in the areas Be wants to get into - piggybacking on the Mac seems logical to me (gaining more than just a 'few percent' of marketshare).

4. PPC support is already there. G3 and G4 support is reportedly very easy to add (ie. a single developer taking a couple of weeks). Everything Be writes runs on PPC already, and it doesn't seem to be hurting them too much. Now they just need to make a promise to retain support into the future, gaining back trust.

5. Mac marketshare has been improving drastically lately - far higher than when they first ported to the PPC. It's a good time to look at the PPC again.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Given that:

1. Apple has open-sourced the relevent portions of their OS.

2. Intel invested in Be around the time they started going away from the PPC.

3. Hasn't stopped LinuxPPC/YDL/MkLinux much, has it?

4. Apple makes money on hardware - BeOS would be good for them.

At best, Be made a rational decision based on the dwindling marketshare of the Mac platform (given their target market, multimedia, I think this is bogus - but a possibility). At worst, this was due to obvious pressure from Intel and internal politics at Be. My guess is that it was partially a mixture of both.

Either way, Be's handling of the issue has been terrible. They should just get it done with and drop PPC support altogether.


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

But you fail to realize, Apple could have quite easily been dead had they not killed cloning. I didn't like it (I'm the proud owner of a PowerTower Pro 225), and the cloners at the time were putting out better hardware, but that makes little difference now.

Now, Apple is putting out decent hardware, and has improved OS stability greatly from the 7.5.5 days...

I hope that they allow for cloning again, but with better control over the spec. If they weren't careful, the clones could have eaten them alive. Just ask IBM.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Being stoned?

[sarcasm enabled]

Oh yeah, that's what I want this century to be known for...



- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

"Free software, as embodied by the GPL, is under a number of license restrictions on its distribution and use, and can therefore be pirated."

Am I the only one who finds this terribly amusing?


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

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Shame on you, you miserable Redmond worm.
---

Tom...

Don't hold back, why don't you tell him how you REALLY feel? ;>

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

I declate your observation null and void due to being based on an unsound concept - that a suit could use a search engine, and would be looking for info in a tech-oriented knowledge base.

:>

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Parasitic would only fit if they didn't give anything back - O'Reilly makes some of the best documentation out there... Certainly better than the average HOWTO.

It's a symbiotic relationship.

Plus - since when does a publisher have to agree with everything spouted by some guy with far left leanings? The open-source community is diverse, with the purists all the way to the pragmatists (I'll admit it - I'm somewhere in that latter group). O'Reilly seems to pop up around that area as well. What's wrong with that?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

I'm thinking you should have done your research before you posted 4 messages accusing people of misquoting you.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

This is what we call 'user error'.

The post these people refer to is not yours. The post they are referring to says just this:

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I've never heard of anybody switching from Microsoft to a Linux. Honestly.
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...my guess is that you aren't browsing at the lowest level (it has a score of 0, being from an Anonymous Coward).

Oops.

Anyhow, I've seen cases where people thought they were happy with Windows, until they were presented with a superior choice (ie. Linux, MacOS, etc) - at that point, hindsight might say "wow, it really does suck".

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

...but it's solicited, therein lies the difference.

I've actually benefitted a great deal from instant messaging. I telecommute (I live in Wash. State, my coworkers mostly live in California), and this is how I collaborate with my counterparts. There are tons of ICQ clients out there you can choose from, for whatever OS or features you want.



- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Morale?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

I'm not going to go into detail on anything, but let's just say water is not the best in lubrication.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Perhaps it has something to do with the little trait many drugs have of altering the chemical balance of the mind?

If you shove a video game up your nose, I doubt it'd be good for you either.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

The real question is, why not?

So, um, why not?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Actually, I'm sure you'll find far more replies of the "Disgruntled European" and "Snotty Foreigner" variety. They seem to be in fashion, lately:

"Slashdot sucks, they don't use nation-neutral terminology."
"Slashdot sucks, they only post stories when I'm asleep."
"Americans suck, they're all prone to using stereotypes and generalizations."
"Americans suck, they carry guns and shoot people."
"Linux wasn't made by Americans only." (ya'think?!)
"The American patent, legal, and economic systems all suck. Hell, America sucks too."
"Capitalism sucks, and Americans would sell their own children for cash."

Newsflash: Slashdot is run in America, by Americans. Of course it's going to be America-centric, as those who run it live in this country and are interested in things that affect Americans. This isn't a bash against foreigners (insert obligatory 'foreign to who? not me!' reply here), but you don't see Americans getting pissed because of any slight European biases on Euro-hosted sites, do you? We just live with it, and make our own adjustements accordingly.

(No offense to our European compatriots as a whole - I'm fully aware that most of you aren't assholes, and contribute much to Slashdot in the way of real content. I'm just tired of the nationalistic whining that seems to go on).

Sorry, venting... But it had to be said.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Remoderate - this was 'funny', not a 'troll'.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

...are these the same people that have given Microsoft 90% marketshare in the desktop computing market?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

You know, you'd think that if I can look at dictionary.com for the definition of a word, I could spell it right.

*sigh*


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

So Rob, are you going to get that Jihad'ing penguin from Suck or not? I think stories like this fit perfectly. You should come up with a seperate 'zealout' category.

(and to those who think using the word 'zealout' is a flame against RMS, well, you're probably right. But look at the following definition:

http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=zea lot

...and tell me, is it really inaccurate?)

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

The problem is, the guy who sold him the domain fulfilled his part of the bargain. register.com essentially 'stole' the domain out from under him for greatdomains.com.

The original owner is the innocent party, it seems.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

I'm thinking your roommate shouldn't have sampled so much of his own product... :>


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Your post was funny as hell (licking their asses?), but what do you have against Tom C?

Without his work, I'd probably know a lot less Perl than I do now.

Please explain.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

If French speaking people are such a large part of the population, why would those businesses opt for English only menus, etc? Let them make their mistakes, and visit French-friendly businesses. Let the market decide, and put those other businesses under market pressure to provide bilingual menus and signs.

Yes, it's a stupid law.


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

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This law is meant to protect quebecer from assimilation by the rest of the english-speaking america.

Anyway the simple law of marketing will tell you that if the population is 85% french, you should offer your service in french too!
---

You know, I've never understood this whole 'assimilation' thing. We're not out to assimilate Canada - hell, we barely even think of Canada.

If a little music 'infects' Canadians, so be it. They ask for it.

Same thing with signs. If Canadians want to remain close to their French roots, that's fine - don't go to English speaking stores. Put them out of business. That's the store-owner's decision, not yours.

I really hate it when people push for government playing the role of babysitter. People are people, let them choose whatever they want.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

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I believe that any law which restricts the playing of Britney Spears is a good law
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...and replace with what, Alanis Morisette?

This is progress?

Nope, it's censorship.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

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In Canada, they listed "every fifth song on the radio must be by a canadian born person" as a dumb law. This law reflects the desire to remain seperate from the United States. It is a way of preserving Canadian identity. What's dumb about that?
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A lot. Let the people decide where they want their culture to go. Government regulation in such an extreme sucks, and even smacks of censorship.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

"News For Nerds: Stuff That Matters"

If there are stories about any other musicians, my bet is that there is a link to some sort of technology or another type of geek-bait involved.

Why is everyone so damned over-sensitive? Sheesh!

(And yes, for the record, I'm not that impressed by S.W.'s music. On the other hand, I don't care much for The Who either. I just don't think Taco meant it as a put-down)

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Naw. As soon as becomes a useful (albeit expensive) technology, you know what will happen?

Easy - someone like Alladvantage will come along and pay for your surgery. In return, you'll have to put up with a small bar at the bottom of your vision containing paid-for advertising. It's only off when you're asleep (maybe) or perhaps for a few user-selectable hours each day - enough so that you can get a rest or drive or something. The rest of the time, your vision is auctioned off to the highest bidder. Younger people would be more desirable, as more ad impressions would be possible.

Sound kind of sick? Well, maybe. But you know that someone will think of it, for better or for worse.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

What exactly did Rob say that was so disrespectful?

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chocko sent us an article about Stevie Wonder's Eye Chip. Now normally a Stevie Wonder story probably wouldn't make it on Slashdot, but this is actually about him implanting a chip into his eye in order to try to gain some of his sight back. I just thought that was kinda cool.
---

...seems pretty neutral to me. As a test, I replaced Stevie's name with the name of an artist I'd actually listen to, and it still doesn't sound even vaguely disrespectful. Then again, I wouldn't expect (or ask) him to give a full dissertation on Stevie's musical career. This is Slashdot, after all.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

The Centris got its name because, at the time it was released, it was the 'middle' or 'center' machine in the Apple lineup (Quadra for high end, LCs and such for low-end).

Dumb name, though - kind of grows on me. Quadra is kind of cool. A couple years later Apple got into the numbering scheme (ie. 6100, 7100, 8100, 7500, etc) which kind of sucked.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Perhaps, but what should we do? Use VHS from here on out?

They have the right to encrypt everything, just as we have the right to crack it and render the encryption useless. DIVX was flawed from the beginning, but for 99.99% of those who'd use DVD, this isn't a problem at all.

DIVX sucked for everyone, even for the average person who just wanted to watch a movie and didn't care about ripping archival copies.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

If you were an Apple employee, you'd probably know that the Mac hasn't used the '68k' processor line for years.

Sounds like an imposter to me.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Cool.

Now, can you guys spend a week and get the BeOS running on my G3? I'm tired of having to boot up my old PowerTower Pro to use it.

(and yes, I will dump tons and tons of money in the form of upgrades for it, too)

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Huh?

Apple's stock has gone up over a hundred yesterday, its highest ever.

What do you mean?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

No, the stereotype is that they only work in motels and 7-11's. All things considered, a 'programmer' stereotype, while still being inaccurate, is somewhat of an improvement - don't you think?

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Gee, which side are you on?

My guess: You're not the 'average joe', you're a non conformist. Also, you must be smarter than the average Slashdot-er.

Err, okay.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Since when is Oregon a liberal state?

(Note: I live 20 miles north of Oregon)


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Read his other messages. He was being sarcastic.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

Hmm. We wouldn't want to infringe on anyone's right to work 3 hours and stand around the other 5, or promote the idea of someone getting fired for being inept.


- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)

My guess is that you'd wake up with your house on fire.

It's happened before.

- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)